‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ has impressive start, throttles ‘The Tonight Show’

While it is still to be seen just what sort of ratings “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is going to produce for CBS in the long-term, we can at least tell you that one night, Colbert was king of the late-night market … and it was not even close.

In terms of household ratings (which is the earliest measure that comes in after a late-night episode), the new “Late Show” drew a whopping 4.9, which is up over 170% from the same night a year ago. It also more than doubled “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” which drew a 2.4 rating in the measure. We imagine that these two are going to be close competitors for some time; it makes sense that they would be competitors since their shows are so different. Stephen is more of a political comic and more of an interviewer, while Fallon is at his best doing sketches and funny bits with his celebrity guests and The Roots.

We do imagine that by this point next week we will get a better sense as to where the numbers for the show truly are, but this is a nice sign that Colbert can draw more than his Comedy Central audience to the show. The idea here is that he will bring in more young viewers, and also produce segments and interviews that are fascinating to watch. For example, there was something oddly compelling about his interview with Jeb Bush, even though Bush didn’t really answer all of his questions.

We’re not going to cover the show every night, but you can head over here to see our take on the premiere and a few of the night’s best bits.

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